Located next to the busy Andheri station, complete digital printing solutions provider Perfect Digital deals with commercial as well as large format printing work. The print shop employs solvent and eco-solvent printers from Epson and inkjet printers from HP and recently became the first in western India to install an HP Latex 315 large format printer. Installed in June this year, the printer was supplied by Edifice Technologies, which is the exclusive dealer in western India.
“Our aim is now to quickly move up the value chain. Solvent technology requires a lot of activity but offers little return. With the HP Latex 315, I can now not only offer high value jobs but also reduce our solvent throughput,” says Mukesh Rita, who manages the complete large format division at Perfect Digital.
The 54-inch HP Latex 315 print and cut solution is ideal for printing and cutting through stickers, customizable clothing, window graphics, wallpaper, backlits and more with 6-color image quality at 1200 dpi resolution. HP Latex inks print on all common substrates and media types, and delivery durability to be used in indoor and outdoor environments.
The most important factor for Rita is the fact that HP Latex 315 can print on uncoated media. “We have jobs which are very specific, such as customized gift items. With the advent of the new HP Latex 315, I plan to cater to a wider gamut application,” he says.
Since space comes at a high premium in Mumbai, even more at the prime commercial location of Andheri station, optimization of space is the need of the hour. The compact design of HP Latex 315 is ideal for smaller work spaces. “Perfect Digital is placed in a very prime location, so the HP Latex 315 helps in optimizing the space. Bulky solvent printers were not offering the kind of return per square foot that a compact printer like Latex 315 can offer,” Rita explains. With environment in mind, the plan is to phase out solvent technology completely soon. “We will educate our customers about the benefits of opting for a greener technology,” he says.
South Mumbai printer enters wide format space
If Andheri East is the digital printing hub of north Mumbai, Fort is the digital printing hub for south Mumbai. Prism Digital Prints is located in the busy Bora Bazaar Street in Fort, which is bustling with activity the whole day long. The print shop was established a year ago by Nilesh Parsekar, who has significant experience in wide format printing. For the past year, Prism was only catering to commercial document and ad collateral printing work, employing two Konica Minolta digital printers. However, recently Parsekar decided to diversify into the wide format space by installing a Roland TrueVIS VG 640 eco-solvent printer and cutter. The printer was supplied by Apsom Infotex.
“I decided to get into large format space because it is my passion. Commercially too, investing in the latest Roland TrueVIS VG 640 made sense because in the Fort area nobody has such an advanced machine. Since we installed the printer a month ago, we have got very encouraging feedback from our customers,” says Parsekar.
Roland displayed the TrueVIS VG-640 print and cut machine at the Media Expo earlier this year in Mumbai. TrueVIS VG series wideformat printers and cutters are equipped with four newly-developed FlexFire print-heads, which more flexibly control the metallic plate attached to the ink chamber for a higher firing frequency. Users can expect exceptional detail and vibrant colors at a production speed of 107.6 square feet per hour in high quality mode on vinyl and up to 374.6 square feet per hour in dual CMYK configuration. The VG-640 offers 7-color (CMYK plus Light Cyan, Light Magenta and Light Black) or 8-color (CMYKLcLmLk plus White) ink configurations. According to Parsekar, the printer’s light black option offers smooth gradations, perfect skin tones and beautiful images.
Although commercial printing is close to 90% of his business at present, Parsekar believes, in another 12 months, both commercial printing and large format printing businesses will have equal share in overall business. “There is a strong demand for quality large format jobs in the Fort area, and as more and more customers will know about our latest printer, the volumes should also expand,” he says.
